My Lonely Paradise
by specialchild27
Summary: AU: Lucy Heartfilia, one of the most popular girls in school. Beautiful, rich, she was even one of the head cheerleaders. She was everything any girl dreamed of being. Well, except herelf. Beautiful, maybe, but she wasn't rich anymore! She didn't even want to be a cheerleader. Nobody knew the real her. Nobody knew her pain. But everything changed when he came.


A dim light lit the path that the blond haired girl walked on. She shivered in the chilly March breeze. As she pulled up her scarf she said to herself, "It's getting dark, I better get home I have cheer tomorrow." she tucked in some of the hair that came out of her ponytail behind her ear and set off towards her home. As she shuffled down the path the girl whispered a song to herself.

"There are words I can't deny, forcing laughter faking smiles same old tired lonely place. Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacant seats vanished when I saw your face. All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you~"

Her eyes were dull, the street light the only thing illuminating her eyes. She crossed the bridge from the park to her lonely apartment. Her keys jingled as she tried to find the one that unlocked her apartment door, when she found it she forced it into the key hole and unlocked the door. No one awaited her, but this is what happens when your dad kicks you out.

She peeled off her uniform and shimmied on her pajamas, she was to tired to take a bath. She lifted the covers off her bed and slipped underneath them. As she closed her eyes she dreamed that she'd be able to make it through tomorrow.

* * *

When Lucy arrived at school the next morning, uniform blowing in the breeze, she scanned the courtyard for her group of friends. When she spotted them sitting under the cherry tree she placed a fake smile on her face and skipped over to them.

"Lu-chan!" her close friend Levy McGarden called out. Levy. She and Lucy were close, closer than she was with most of her friends. She thought she and Levy had something in common when they met but the only attribute they shared was that they loved books. Lucy's eyes shifted over to the next person, Juvia Lockser. Juvia had transferred there not even two months ago but she fit in like she'd been there the hole time. Juvia had a boyfriend back home, his name was Lyon if Lucy remembered correctly.

Talking to Juvia was the class president, Erza Scarlet. Erza was very strict, but that was why she was the class president. She had a _'secret'_ crush on the school prince Jellal Ferenades, but everyone knew so it wasn't really a secret. The only one missing was-.

"Bye Natsu! I'll see you later sweetie!" Lisanna Strauss. Lucy's longest friend and rival. But, she didn't know about the rival part. In fact Lucy only viewed her as a rival because she had the perfect life. She was rich. She had the looks, the cash, the wardrobe, everything a girl could want. She had a beautiful sister, Mirajane Strauss. She was a model. And a strong bodyguard, Elfman Strauss who hurt anyone who touched his sisters. To top it all of, she had the boy. No he was not the prince of the school,nor was he famous. He was just a regular boy, but he happened to be the one boy Lucy had her heart set on.

Natsu Dragneel was able to steal Lucy's heart at the age of 14. There was no Romeo and Juliet story of how they met. It happened in a split second. Lucy was walking down the hall of her middle school, she was popular and all the boys wanted her, but that day was different. She saw a group of students crowded around the front entrance, she couldn't get through the crowd but she managed to stand on her tipi-toes and look over someones shoulder. In her view of the situation she only saw a boy with pink hair, probably a transfer student. He craned his neck to scan the area and locked eyes with a certain blond, thinking she was just a normal girl he smiled at her. And that's when she found her first love. But what Lucy didn't see was her best friend Lisanna standing next to him.

"Hi girls!" Lisanna smiled as she placed her hand on Lucy's shoulder, her tiny ponytail swaying in the breeze. "Don't forget we have cheer this afternoon m'kay?" Lucy hated it, but she just smiled. She had to. They didn't know anything about her. Even Lisanna thought she was still rich even though she ran away. Lucy had to act girly and prissy like she was a princess to impress them.

"Okay Lisanna-san, Juvia will try to be there but Lyon-sama said he was coming to town this afternoon!" Juvia squealed. All the other girls squealed with her including our favorite blond.

"Ju-chan, ask him if he wants to come to practice? You don't mind Lisanna, do you?" Levy pleaded. The bluenette wanted to meet Juvia's boyfriend, for non of them have ever met him. Lisanna pondered about this for a moment before breaking out into a grin. "Sure, but as long as he doesn't distract us. Remember girls we have a match in a two weeks and if we win this we go to the semi-finals." Juvia gave her a huge smile and hugged her. Right then the bell decided to ruin the moment. _'Yes!'_ Lucy thought.

"I'll see you in class guys!" she said as she ran into the building, her golden ponytail flying behind her. Her shoes made hardly any noise as she gracefully slowed to a stop. She couldn't stop smiling. What if someone saw her. People would start asking questions and she'd be forced to tell them. Utter humiliation. So, she continued smiling and continued walking. The only time she ever got to be herself was when she was alone, but with all the activities Lisanna signs them up for she's almost always with someone.

She hurried to her locker and twisted the nob on the lock. _21-7-26, 21-7-26 _she chanted in her head. She was forgetful and only remembered things when they were really important. When she heard the _clunk_ of the lock she opened her locker, took out her books for Geography, Math and History and put the lock back on. The second bell rang as she hurried to class. Not very many people were still in the hall and if she wasn't fast enough she'd get detention.

Lucy slowed down as her homeroom class came into view but she wasn't there yet so she speed-walked the rest of the way. She opened the door and walked into class. Thank god her teacher didn't beat her. She carefully maneuvered through the bundle of people to her desk in the back row next to the window. A few moments after her, she saw Lisanna enter the room and the crowd split in half. Lisanna strutted through the class like she was on a catwalk until she stopped at her desk next to Lucy and sat down.

"Hey Luce, so I just ran into this cute guy who I think would-." but her rant was cut short when their teacher, Gildarts Clive, walked into class.

"Okay guys, I hope you all did your homework because, congratulations! You have a pop quiz." he said excitedly. Half the class groaned, probably because they _didn't_ do the homework, and Gildarts grinned. He loves his students but has a funny way of showing it.

As Gildarts was handing out the quizzes, a note apparead on Lucy's desk. On the front of the note in pretty letters a name was written: _Lisanna_. Lucy opened the pefectly folded note and read the pink print: _Luce, I just ran into this cute guy who I think would look great with you. If I recall he was one of Jellal's friends: Loke. He' rich and a gentlemen. I smelt love so I invited him to practice this afternoon._

_Love, Lisanna_

_'There she goes again,'_ Lucy thought, _'Trying to pair me up with someone I don't even know.'_ Lucy took out her green pen and started to write back when someone coughed.

"Oh my bad, um come in!" Gildarts called out and in walked in a dark haired boy, and Gildarts continued. "Everyone please welcome your new classmate, Gray Fullbuster!" All the girls swooned except Lucy. She just stared at _Gray_, who did not look amused. Then he looked over the back row. Dark blue eyes connected with brown eyes and they just stared for a moment until Lucy went back to writing. Gray watched as she handed the folded up note back to Lisanna with amusement, thinking they were talking about him.

"Gray you can go sit in the back row next to Lisanna Strauss. Lisanna?" Gildarts pointed to the spot next to Lisanna as her head snapped up. "Can you please stop what you're doing? You have a quiz to take." Lisanna looked at him like she didn't know what he was saying until everyone started the quiz. She then put away the note for later.

After school was over Lucy was walking down the hall with Lisanna, talking about the latest gossip and celebrities. They weren't watching where they were going because normally they didn't have to, everyone just moved out of the way. But, Lucy bumped into someone. A he actually. She backed up a few steps and looked up to see Gray who was looking down at her.

"Watch where you're going!" Lisanna snapped. She didn't like it when people got in her way, especially people she didn't even know. To her he was just dirt on the bottom of her shoe, for now.

"I'm sorry I didn't know the princesses were coming." he snapped back. Lisanna just looked at him in disgust. Who ever dared to talk back to her? She was _Lisanna Strauss_ she pretty much ruled the school. But she admired his guts and smiled at him as the onlookers were praying for him.

"We were just on our way to cheer practice. Would you like to join us?" Lucy, the onlookers and even one of the teachers walking in the hall gawked at her. He just talked back to her and she invited him to watch their practice. It seems the gods thought he was important enough to be invited.

"Hm, being able to watch prissy girls waltz around in skimpy uniforms shaking their butts? Sorry but it's not really my idea of fun." he mocked but Lisanna just brushed it away and continued flirting with him as though she didn't have a boyfriend. "Well the invitation stands. Cash it in any time you want." she said smoothly while batting her long lashes. As Lisanna kept on flirting and Gray arguing, Lucy saw Natsu about to round the corner. She didn't know why but she distracted him. Maybe it was because she felt bad for Lisanna or maybe because she didn't want him to get hurt.

"H-Hey Natsu!" She said with a big, fake, grin. As much as it pained her that he and Lisanna were dating, it made him happy. When he smiled Lucy's heart beat faster. His smile. She couldn't take his happiness away from him because she was jealous. She truly loved him, and she would go through anything for him. He smiled at her, "Oh hey Lucy! I was just about to come watch you guys practice!"

Gray seemed to notice the blond's absence, because he stopped arguing and looked behind Lisanna. When he looked behind her he saw Lucy smiling and talking to Natsu. Lisanna followed his gaze and saw her boyfriend. She froze but then glared at everyone, meaning that if they told him they were dead. She then smiled and skipped over to him, pushing Lucy out of the way.

"Natsu!~" she called as she hugged him. She then pulled away, her hair falling out of her ponytail, and pressed her lips against his. Entrapping him in a passionate kiss. No one noticed Lucy walk away towards the football field, a sad smile gracing her lips. Well, at least she thought no one noticed.

**How was it? Did you guys like it? It's my first story and I want to know if any one liked it. I wanted to do a AU fic but I didn't no what to do until I thought of Lucy being a cheerleader. Warning: This is a GrayLu story! I love NaLu but I also love GrayLu so I wanted to mix the two together. Ther will be other pairings like GaLe, JerZa, Lyuvia etc. Mira, Wendy and the others will be in later chapters because I already have parts for them, I just have to figure out how the will be involved. **

**Also this isn't supposed to be a sad story. It will have some sad parts but it won't be as sad as you think, because I know the title makes it seem sad. Anyways, please review and tell me your ideas, questions and what I should fix. :)**


End file.
